Lad and Ladies in Training: October 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Bye Bye Canada!

We left early on Monday morning for Pompton Plains. NJ. Albert's parents were staying in Canada and we were meeting again in Chicago late on Friday. Here are some lasts for the summer.

The girls ready for the trip!
(Phew, got all the special teddies!)

We LOVED living here, cute little house!

Lasts

We took the rainbow bridge for the last time
to get one more glimpse of the Falls!

Here they are! I never tire of that view!

USA!

Monday, October 27, 2014

It was always going to be a short visit and we knew that we were here only temporarily but what a great 11 weeks we had. Thank you doesn't it really do it justice to thank the people of Wellandport URC to make us feel welcome and VERY loved while we were there! We were VERY well looked after. I keep saying this but it is always a privileged to be involved in people's lives. Wellandport URC had a nice morning tea with special cake for us which the girls enjoyed. (The girls didn't enjoy the goodbyes so much :( ) So while saying our "goodbye" for now was hard, there was a fun time waiting for us. Spending time with Albert's parents whom we had not seen for two years. Here are some of our leaving photos.

'Formal' photo, very nice I say!

Kate with her special friend
(they share the same birthday
which Kate thought was VERY cool!)

Our final meal in Wellandport. The Bumas supplied most of dinner
(and cooked it for us) How cool is that?

Not only did they cook us dinner
but also took quite a bit of stuff back for us!

Thank you!

We took more than that but we didn't need
to use our roof top bag which was very nice

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Pake and Beppe!! (& Grace's Birthday!)

Phew finally! Time and technology is allowing me to continue my journey with you all. Some of the posts are going to be a few months old, please bear with me as Albert's family in particular would love to see the family visit in photos! So just like over the summer internship posts, there are mostly going to be photos only with a few words here and there! Enjoy!

Towards the end of our internship, Albert's parents were due to arrive in Canada to spend time with Albert's third cousin. This was already arranged BEFORE we knew that we were going to Canada for our internship. Pretty cool huh?

Albert's parents (whom we hadn't seen for over two years!) were due to arrive on the 31st of July in Buffalo, NY, having flow into the USA the week before. Albert's parents were delayed on their train journey across the USA and so arrived in Buffalo a day later than planned! Albert had thankfully planned his days off way in advance and so having the following day off wasn't a problem. We had told Albert's parents that we wouldn't make the 'trek' across the border to meet them in the USA. We might have mislead them slightly. We instead had arranged with the Bumas (Albert's third cousin) to meet them at the train station in Buffalo. What a surprise it was! We also decided to see the American side of Niagara Falls that day. We had been given some spending money by some lovely people and had saved that especially for a trip on the Maid of the Mist. It was even more special to enjoy that with Albert's parents and the Bumas but also since it was Grace's 11th birthday that day!

Very excited girls!

The Train!

Smiles say it all!

Father and Son

Sight seeing at the Falls

Do you think they are happy?

Another family shot

I think the girls saved up all their stories to tell Pake and Beppe!

One of the attractions, see the power of that water

He wanted his photo taken

Very nice family photo! Thanks Durk

Following are some photo's of us going on Maid of the Mist. I haven't got many good ones of the actual falls as it was far too wet. You will just have to imagine it! We were given these plastic ponchos for which we were very grateful otherwise we would have been saturated! What an awesome experience to get so close to the falls. We chose the Maid of the Mist on the American side especially as it was the boat company that got the closest to the falls.

Zara

Kate

Grace

Beppe

Pake
(I don't think he wanted his hat to get wet?)

Beppe and the girls

Selfie with Michaela

Family photo (taken on the boat)

approaching the falls

the falls are in there somewhere in the mist!

See the blue 'dots' some of us walked that too,
pretty cool to be that close to the water

Present all the way from NZ

One thrilled Gracie with a new purple jersey!
Thanks Pake and Beppe

Finishing the long day with pizza as a birthday dinner for Grace!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

True Woman Conference 9-11 October 2014

(Phew I think Albert with the help of an online 'helper' has fixed the laptop! It looked like we might have had to buy a new laptop. So grateful that it's got a few more months at least!)

WOW! What an up building/blessed/refreshed/challenging couple of days!

Hannah and I had the privilege of going to the True Woman 2014 Conference(DO look at the link, you won't regret it!). I had to arrange quite a few things including babysitting for two days. Thanks so much for those who had my girls for the two days while I was at the conference. I'm pleased to report that all the ones that stayed home i.e. Albert and the girls had clean washing and did eat! ;). I came home to a lovely smelling house as Michaela had baked pumpkin loaf! YUM!

Hannah and I had decided to attend the pre-conference seminar as well which dealt with leadership. Although both us are not necessarily leaders, we thought with our 'new' future roles it might be helpful! Since there were only two of us, we were seated at the very front. We were treated to a very nice 'boxed' lunch with all sorts of treats. Generous sponsors had also provided books, a calendar and a magazine for all the pre-conference attendees!

Nancy Leigh DeMoss spoke on 1 Thessalonians 2 with the topic of "What are the characteristics of effective ministry?" I really enjoyed her teaching us verse by verse.

After our pre-conference seminar we had some dinner and then the real conference started! We were treated to fantastic speakers. I'm going to link some of the blog posts that give an excellent recap.

Here are some of my thoughts about the conference!

Prayer. I really appreciated the prayers that saturated the conference! Everyone that registered by name was prayed for! About 50 men came to the conference at their own expense and prayed for and during the conference, for special prayer needs etc. They also had a special prayer room where you could go and someone would pray with you! WOW!
Reverence for Christ. Seek first ye HIS kingdom!
Cross of Christ - Just about all the speakers, although some of them were 'famous', showed us our need for Christ and not themselves! Again WOW! Most speakers exegeted a bible text.
Worship Music - I'm not much of a music fan but WOW. The music was NOT over bearing, just leading us in worship. I LOVED listening to Kirsten Getty, she got an awesome Irish accent! A lot of acappella singing as well which sounded pretty awesome with 8000+ woman at the conference!
I didn't enjoy the speaker on Friday night, Hannah and I left early that night!